ABSTRACT
Within a network, the interactions between components are governed by basic biological mechanisms. The forms of these basic interactions are limited in number, and the wealth of complex behaviours exhibited by biological systems results primarily from the ways in which these mechanisms can be combined. In this context, ‘basic biological mechanisms’ refer to events involving the components of the system that directly effect changes in the state of the components. Examples include the creation and degradation of a component (which may or may not depend on interactions between the components). In cellular systems, the components are the constituent molecular species (mRNAs, proteins, metabolites, ions, etc.).
